Arup Education Trust

The Arup Education Trust owns 30% of Arup (Pty) Limited, the South African corporate entity of the Arup group. Arup, the global firm of engineers, designers and consultants, has worked in South Africa since the 1950s, and the trust’s shareholding gives the Arup Education Trust its own income for education.

Registered name

Arup Education Trust

Type

Education trust (shareholder in Arup South Africa)

Fields funded

Built environment degrees

Website

arupedutrust.org

Funding joined with mentoring

The Arup Education Trust describes its goal as giving beneficiaries an environment to reach their full potential by combining funding with mentorship and guidance. The trust holds support group sessions throughout the year, and beneficiaries can reach the trustees at any time, a closer relationship than most bursary funders offer.

The trust also requires practical experience. Every student must take part in vacation employment during the bursary period, so bursars learn what the built environment professions require before they graduate.

Who can apply

The Arup Education Trust invites students studying towards a degree in the built environment to apply for assistance. The trust’s website publishes its full criteria, which applicants should read before preparing documents.

The trust’s website showed applications as closed when BursariesAfrica checked in September 2026. Recent cycles have closed around 30 November, so students should watch arupedutrust.org from about September each year.

THUKEMA: support before university

The trust works with school learners too. Since 2014 the Arup Education Trust and The Chosen NPO have run the THUKEMA Secondary School Support Programme. THUKEMA comes from the Sotho phrase Thuto ke Maatla, meaning knowledge is power, and the programme provides tuition to help learners pass matric with university acceptance.

A learner who goes through THUKEMA and then studies a built environment degree could, in principle, move from the school programme into the trust’s bursary, which shows how the trust thinks about long-term support.

Researching the trust yourself

Read the trust’s about page and board information on arupedutrust.org, and ask the trust which built environment degrees it currently prioritises, such as civil engineering, architecture or quantity surveying. Because vacation work is compulsory, ask where bursars usually complete it and whether Arup offices host students.

The trust’s board of trustees oversees both the bursary and THUKEMA. Applicants who want to understand the trust’s priorities can read the board information on the trust’s website before writing a motivation.

Built environment students can compare the trust with other funders on our built environment bursaries page.